Another blow to Sydney's dining scene

Closed ... Blancharu restaurant in Elizabeth Bay. Photo: Supplied

Scott Bolles

In another worrying trend for serious dining in Sydney, Blancharu has closed. A note on the door of the Elizabeth Bay restaurant confirms the landlord has taken possession of the premises.

Blancharu was most recently under the culinary guidance of ex-Robuchon chef Masahiko Yomoda, whose standout dishes include French-Japanese creations rich in parmesan foam, and a tuna dish with truffle and basil sauce.

Unhappy customers with bookings have taken to blogs to complain of turning up to dine at the closed restaurant, while others fret over unused gift vouchers.

The signs weren't good when its founder, former Restaurant VII head chef Haru Inukai, sold the restaurant last May to open a ramen bar in a Chinatown food court.

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''Fine dining is very difficult [in Australia]; the labour costs are really high, as are rents,'' Inukai said.

The chef hoped Blancharu would prosper after selling to experienced operators - a family with several restaurants in Indonesia.

Key staff also stayed and Yomoda signed as chef.

Inukai's small ramen outlet is a long way from the luxury of his time at Bilson's and Restaurant VII, but he says when he started serving lunchtime ramen, customers queued up Elizabeth Bay Road.

11 comments

And in rode Phony Abbott on his white horse and saved the day, by abolishing penalty rates and workers rights and conditions. Fine dining will rise like a Phoenix from the ashes on the backs of it's workers. Hurray.

Commenter

daffy

Location

Date and time

March 10, 2014, 12:37PM

Abbott and the business world can huff and puff all they want about penalty rates.

No-one will have any incentive to work at any restaurant (or weekend service business) that does not pay penalty rates as recompense for the crap hours of work.

Fundamentally, if the restaurant/business cannot compete with penalty rates in place, it still won't compete with penalty rates removed. All this means is that the restaurant/service's business model is wrong in the first place.

I predict, if these businesses get what they want, the next complaint will be these businesses cannot open because they cannot get employees.

Stupid gits!

Commenter

Dougal

Location

Oz

Date and time

March 11, 2014, 1:25PM

Rather old news as Blancharu closed its doors about a month ago. The thing that killed the restaurant in this current incarnation was simply bad service. The maître d' was all over the shop, at times charmin, other times rude but always disorganised.

Commenter

Ithacalk

Location

Sydney

Date and time

March 10, 2014, 12:48PM

Maybe these fine dining establishments would do better if they stopped being so pretentious - starting with the name - what does "Blanchuru" mean? I don't care but it sounds ridiculous in Sydney, Australia! Along with "ex-Robuchon chef"!! I notice there are two recently opened cafes in Potts Point, one called "Douce France", the other called "Marcelle", the latter doing better business than "Douce" - I wonder why?? Stop with the fancy French names and start with some local colour like Aboriginal names and places - I bet business picks up! The argument about high labour costs and penalty rates is just too tiresome for words!!

Commenter

Savannah

Location

Date and time

March 10, 2014, 7:06PM

Robuchon is named after, uh, Joel Robuchon. One of the most well known chefs of the 20th century. And has a restaurant in the Eiffel Tower. I'll let him know that his name it too Frenchy and pretentious, and he should change it to something like Johnno or Fatty Vautin.

And douce (or doux) means sweet.

Being an ignorant douche (n: shower) - Australia Says Yes!

Commenter

alexbeare

Location

Date and time

March 11, 2014, 9:46AM

Blancharu may be too fancy and pretentious for people like you, who are more used to McDonalds and KFC... Nothing wrong with a foreign/international name...

Commenter

PA

Location

Date and time

March 11, 2014, 11:29AM

If only FairfaxMedia published when it has let go of people as readily as when other businesses have gone under.How can chefs go under and still crop up on the telly, surely the proof is in the pudding?

Commenter

Joe Blow

Location

The Burbs

Date and time

March 10, 2014, 7:23PM

What we need is authentic versions of foreign cuisines. It is a giant black hole in dining in this country.

Commenter

rod

Location

Date and time

March 11, 2014, 8:20AM

must be due to the carbon tax.. no worries, everything will be fixed when that goes away...

Commenter

redsunderthehammock

Location

Date and time

March 11, 2014, 9:41AM

I find a number of problems with eateries such as this. Often they have fancy food when all I want is something relatively simple and they charge too much trading on their reputation or pretentiousness. The tale to this story is Keep it Simple Stupid. I also notice that the dining facilities in many clubs are booked solid so what does that tell you. As far as Phony Tony riding in on his white charger and cutting penalty rates, again we have another myth. In shopping centers around where I live there is a growing number of empty shops. Shops which would pay no or minimal penalty rates as they at best only open on Saturday Mornings and mainly run bu family members.. The problem with them being increasingly high rents. Finally many families are doing it tough and discretionary spending is down. Cut penalty rates and you will effect the ability of some families to pay the Mortgage or Car repayments etc. So the situation is not as simple as Phoney Tony makes it out to be. For goodness sake lets get the facts right by looking at the big picture instead of the seemingly popular quick fixes.